Alice Jolly wins 2026 Walter Scott Prize
12th June, 2026
Alice Jolly has won the £25,000 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction for her novel The Matchbox Girl, which tells the story of Adelheid Brunner, a patient of Dr Hans Asperger in the now-infamous Vienna Children’s Hospital during the 1930s, while the city is under Nazi occupation. Alice received her prize from Walter Scott’s great-great-great-great grandson, Matthew Maxwell Scott, at a ceremony at the Borders Book Festival on Thursday 11thJune, which was followed by a celebratory dinner at Scott’s great home of Abbotsford. She said on winning:
“It feels overwhelming and incredibly exciting. I feel as though I’ve waited all my life for something like this to happen to me – it’s a dream come true and I think it’s really going to transform my writing life. I’m feeling now incredibly positive about the future and the Prize has given me that sense of purpose.”
The judges said:
“Originality, innovation, ambition – The Matchbox Girl not only more than fulfils the judging criteria for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, it confronts a topic of immense complexity in a gripping tour de force. With the skill of a cubist painter, Alice Jolly has altered the angle from which events in Vienna in 1934, and particularly in the Vienna Children’s Hospital, are observed, and a story we think we know is disrupted by a heroine who is speechless yet speaks with disturbing energy. The Matchbox Girl may be the most unusual book you read this year. For its honesty, power and storytelling dexterity, our 2026 winner will also be one of the most important.”
This is the first time playwright, novelist and memoirist Alice Jolly has been considered for the Prize, which awards works of fiction set more than 60 years ago. Some of her previous novels were published through crowdfunding.
The judging panel for this year’s Prize comprised writer Katie Grant (Chair), art historian James Holloway, children’s author Elizabeth Laird, broadcaster James Naughtie, previous Young Walter Scott Prize winner Rosi Byard-Jones, and bookshop owner Rosamund de la Hey.
Watch our winner announcement video, filmed at the Borders Book Festival and Abbotsford, here!